CARL (CHARLES) POLKOW was born in Oct 1837 at Prussia, Germany. He and FREDERICKA [POLKOW] immigrated sometime between 1862 and 1866. The 1900 census lists their immigration date as 1862, four years before Carl and Fredericka were married. This does not agree with other records which have an immigration date closer to the date of their marriage. Carl's 1892 voting record states he had been in the country for 26 years, which would put the date at 1866, around the time he married.

He married FREDERICKA [POLKOW] circa 1866. They were listed as being married for 34 years in the 1900 census. They had five children, Mary, John, Sophie, Minnie, and Louis. The family moved from Thornton to Chicago. Carl naturalization papersS8 filed on 16 Oct 1876 at Chicago, Cook County, Illinois state that he was naturalized in the spring of 1870 but his original papers were lost in the Chicago Fire. He lived in 1892 at 754 W 19th St, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. Carl's occupations were listed in the census as a Railroad Laborer in 1880 and a Day Laborer in 1900.

Carl and Fredericka lost their youngest daughter Minnie to typhoid fever in 1893. She was 18. Carl lost his wife Fredericka in 1903. He appeared on the census of 1910 at Granville Township, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. He was living in the household of his daughter Mary Polkow Thimian. He likely moved with them to Milwaukee after the Fredericka's death. Carl probably died between 1910 and 1920. He doesn't appear to be in the 1920 census.